Beta 0.6! Fruiting Body Raising System!

The long night had finally passed. When a hazy pale glow crept across the distant sky and the first rays of morning sunlight spilled over the smoke-choked street, Bite, sitting behind the sandbag wall, finally laid down the heavy burden in his heart and let his shoulders—tense all night—relax. Two hours ago, sporadic gnawers had still wandered toward their positions, but now the entire defensive line was dead silent; not even a single gunshot could be heard. From a machine-gun nest not far away, thunderous snores gradually drifted over. Some soldiers, overcome by exhaustion, had even fallen asleep with their eyes wide open. This was their first time on a battlefield. Bite stared in slight disbelief at his right hand, then looked around at the blood-and-flesh-strewn position, his heart filled with emotions beyond words. They... had actually survived! It was utterly unbelievable. At that moment, the crunch of boots on concrete sounded from behind him. Still in a daze, Bite jumped in fright, instantly snapping awake. Groping around on the ground, he grabbed a pebble and tossed it at his comrade not far away, trying to wake the guy up. Those regular army guys already looked down on convicts like them. If the disciplinary unit caught them sleeping on the line, there was no telling what might happen. Even if someone put a bullet through their heads, no one would spare them any sympathy. The pebble struck the sleeping brother squarely on the head, but he was out cold and didn't stir in the slightest; if anything, his snoring only grew louder. Just as Bite anxiously contemplated what to do next, a raspy voice came from behind. "Let him sleep a bit." Watching the disciplinary officer walk up beside the firing bunker, Bite swallowed hard, not daring to speak, offering only a grateful look. The disciplinary officer didn't mind. Pulling a pack of cigarettes from his coat, he shook out two, popped one into his mouth, and held the other out to him. "Smoke?" Staring at the offered cigarette, Bite was taken aback, but his hand moved instinctively to take it. "Th-thank you." "Don't mention it." The disciplinary officer curved his lips, fished out matches to light the cigarette between his lips, and casually passed the matchbox to Bite. Watching the man whose trembling fingers took several tries to strike a match, he turned his gaze toward the sea of bones and mountain of corpses before their line. Exhaling a plume of blue smoke, he smoothed the furrow between his brows and spoke slowly: "This year's Tide is over." "We won this war—a total victory. There won't be another one in the future... whether it's the Tide or any other damn mess." Bloodthirsty monsters, savage mutants, flesh-eating marauders, and gangs gathered beneath the Great Wall carrying out illegal trades... They had completely expelled every evil born of the wasteland from Qingquan City. Today's dawn would mark an unprecedented new beginning. Bite smoked in silence, watching the swirling smoke, his thoughts tangled like weeds. For the past three months, he had either been toiling in the mines or preparing for this war; he had possessed no spare time to think about the future. Now that the war had ended, he was forced to seriously consider this question: what would he do going forward? Only then did he suddenly realize that he seemed to know nothing. Having never lived a single day in normal society, he possessed no skills whatsoever to make a living in one. And... With this year's Tide ending so quickly, would the Alliance truly honor its original promise? At that thought, panic seized his heart, and the fingers holding his cigarette couldn't help trembling. Seeming to see right through his thoughts, the disciplinary officer grinned and opened up: "Cheer up. You didn't flee when facing the Tide; you fought bravely for your fellow compatriots behind you. You've proven the part of you that makes you human. Compared to marauders, you're still worth saving, and worth us reaching out a hand to pull you up." Pausing, he continued: "Higher-ups sent me to brief you on two matters regarding your future." Hearing this, Bite blurted out, "I'll go gather the rest of the guys!" Reaching out to catch Bite as he turned to leave, the officer continued: "No need for that trouble. Telling you is enough. You can discuss it with them later and make your decisions after thinking it through." "Alright... then please go ahead, sir." Bite nodded, swallowing nervously, and listened intently to the officer. The disciplinary officer went on: "Your final assignment is to clear the mountains of corpses piled in the streets and haul them to our designated locations before they rot. This job will last about a week, after which you may leave the Penal Battalion." "Regarding where you go after leaving the Penal Battalion, my superiors have given you two choices. One is to be discharged on the spot: turn in your weapons to the organization and go wherever you please afterward, whether that means leaving the Alliance or reporting to the Refugee Home. The other choice is to join the newly established Southern Construction Corps, head to Jinchuan Province to reclaim wasteland, and build a home of your own." The former sounded easier. Although they wouldn't have Alliance citizenship, the Alliance wasn't xenophobic like Boulder City had been in its early days. As long as one reported to the Refugee Home, learned a trade as a 'supervised person,' and then found a stable job in the industrial zone to obtain a taxpayer identification number, it wouldn't take long to become a full citizen of the Alliance. This was assuming one lacked a trade. If someone possessed marketable skills, they could even skip the Refugee Home step, so long as a factory was willing to pay a wage that met taxable thresholds. But if no factory wanted him... At that thought, Bite's heart tightened. If that happened, he feared he might take desperate risks again and slip back onto his old path. No— that was almost guaranteed to happen. As if glimpsing his own future, Bite quietly finished the entire cigarette, collected himself, and looked at the officer. "I choose the latter." Seeming to have anticipated this choice, the officer smiled, finished his cigarette, dropped the butt to the ground, crushed it underfoot, and patted the young man's shoulder. "Whichever you choose, cherish this hard-won freedom. You bought it with your lives—don't end up locked away again." "Next time, you won't be so lucky." ... The cost of victory was grievous. The Penal Battalion had suffered a staggering forty percent casualty rate. Over five thousand had marched to the front line; after a single night, barely over three thousand remained alive. And it wasn't just the Penal Battalion. The First Corps and the militia had likewise suffered heavy casualties, though not quite as extreme as those thrown in as cannon fodder. And the players went without saying. As the vanguard of the Alliance, they invariably appeared in the most perilous sectors, charging at the very forefront no matter what. Nearly twenty thousand players had taken part in the brutal battle, and in the end, less than half had survived. For every survivor in Qingquan City, this was destined to be a sleepless night. Yet counterbalancing the grievous sacrifice was the boundless glory of their victory. After two centuries of decline, the survivors, united at last, had conquered the Tide once deemed invincible! This was a trial that not even the Post-War Reconstruction Committee, nor the ancient Human Alliance, had ever truly overcome! With their own two hands, they had achieved this impossible miracle! Upon hearing the news of victory from the front line, excitement was written across every face—be they residents of Boulder City, Dawn City, Luoye City, or Daybreak City. People fired guns into the air, raised toasts, and embraced in celebration, venting the joy of triumph in cheers and shouts. The moment dawn dispersed the gloom, nearly everyone was rejoicing over that hard-won victory! And not only humans! Even the spore cloud drifting above the ruins carried a trace of lightness it had never possessed before. Less than five kilometers from the Great Wall, in a half-collapsed hospital along the edge of the Second Ring Road, a thousand-man regiment of the Boulder City militia was stationed. At this very moment, the hospital's underground parking garage was filled with crimson slime mold. It was an incubation chamber that mass-produced spores and fruiting bodies. Swarms of gnawers and Crawlers had set out from here, surging like ocean waves toward the defensive lines of human civilization. In normal times, ending this annual Tide required the total destruction of these aberrant incubation chambers. This year, however, was different. The downtown broodmother had long since been captured by Yu, and DNA transcription associated with aggression had ceased; no new gnawers or Crawlers would step out of this incubation chamber. Aside from the dropping spore concentration, this served as the best proof that the Tide had come to an end. Gazing at the undulating, light-red sea, the adjutant clad in a heavy exoskeleton couldn't help clicking his tongue. "This stuff is truly creepy to look at." For the past few decades, charging incubation chambers had always been mercenaries' work. Though he had served in the militia for quite a few years, this was the first time he had laid eyes on a living incubation chamber outside of photographs or holographic images. Nor was he alone. The same was true for the other militia officers; unease was written across nearly every face. "Is it really safe to keep this thing around?" "What if it starts hatching those gnawers again one day?" "I swear it looks like it wants to eat me!" The men exchanged glances, whispering among themselves in hushed voices. Hearing his subordinate officers whispering, Joy, the militia commander, gave a loud cough, cutting off the increasingly outlandish rumors. Seeing the group quiet down, he paused a moment before speaking: "According to the Administrator, he plans to designate an 'ecological reserve' near Shelter 401 and relocate the incubation chambers and fruiting bodies from the urban area over there. Survivors in the eastern district of Qingquan City are relatively scarce, and the area is mostly inhabited by dangerous mutant species, making it an ideal testing ground." Having never heard such an odd term, the adjutant froze for a second and asked, "An ecological reserve... what's that?" Two centuries ago, the term wouldn't have been anything rare, but on the wasteland, it was an unimaginably ahead-of-its-time concept. "Probably... a settlement where slime mold and humans live in harmony?" Joy wasn't entirely sure either, and could only try to explain to his baffled comrades while grasping for understanding himself. "Like humans living inside mushrooms." Clearly, his simplistic interpretation did nothing to resolve their confusion; if anything, it had the opposite effect. One officer stood dumbfounded for a long moment, then shook his head with a wry smile once he came to his senses. "That's way too bizarre." Another officer felt the same way. Swallowing hard as he stared at the crimson sea not far away, he nodded in full agreement: "...I'm never staying near that thing. Not a chance." Joy shrugged. "What are you even talking about? The ecological reserve is currently only open to shelter residents. Even if you wanted to go in and take a look, you'd have to apply first... Personally, I think it doesn't matter. As long as they don't grow mushrooms on the Great Wall, suppressing the annual Tide is already wonderful enough. Or do you have a better idea?" The officer coughed self-consciously. "Of course I unconditionally support the Administrator's decision..." "Same here." Joy nodded, turning his gaze toward the crimson colonies that were gradually losing their color, and continued slowly: "We've tried every method available, whether fire or chemical agents... Even if their plan seems bizarre, trying it is all we can do now." His perspective was actually quite optimistic. Not out of blind trust in the Administrator himself, but because biotechnology was undeniably the Alliance's forte, and that lord was sure to consult experts in relevant fields before making decisions. Given the Alliance's current cohesion, its experts certainly had no reason to hoodwink him and would surely offer genuine, sound advice in good conscience. Since so many evaluated the matter from their professional perspectives and found no major issue, Joy felt this ecological reserve was something to look forward to. After all, they had nothing to lose. The worst outcome would simply be the continuation of the Tide that had persisted for two centuries. And if it succeeded, they would forge an unprecedented path—one that might become the turning point to end the wasteland once and for all... At that moment, a soldier approached from the distance, halted before Joy, and saluted. "Report! A group of itinerant merchants is approaching our checkpoint. Their chosen representative requests a meeting with you to discuss clearing the fruiting body corpses." Normally, during the Tide, itinerant merchants would come to the front line to wholesale corpses—an old tradition around Qingquan City. Although slime mold fruiting bodies could not be eaten directly, they still fell into the category of organic matter, and some amount of nutrients could always be reclaimed. Whether processed into fertilizer or used to produce nutrient paste, they made excellent raw material. If left unattended for an extended period, neither eaten by gnawers nor reclaimed by incubation chambers, the corpses would quickly become breeding grounds for bacteria, potentially triggering massive plagues. For this reason, Boulder City usually bundled these corpses and handed them over to merchants, collecting some chips as kickbacks in the process. This year, however, was different. Before the Tide even began, the Boulder City militia had received directives from the shelter stating that slime mold fruiting bodies seized by the Alliance would no longer be franchised out to private individuals in bulk, but would instead be collected and processed centrally by the Alliance authorities. Most likely, the remains of those fruiting bodies would be transported to the newly established ecological reserve for decomposition and used as construction materials. Looking at the messenger, Joy gave a succinct order: "Tell those merchants that the fruiting body remains in this sector have been taken over by the Alliance authorities. The Alliance has better uses for them. If they're interested in hauling work, they can contact the logistics department; if they're eyeing the fruiting bodies and evolved organisms, they'd better give up now." The soldier saluted, turned, and returned to the checkpoint at the encampment entrance, relaying the commander's exact words to the merchants crowding the gate. Upon hearing the soldier's response, astonishment washed over the merchants' faces, and they exchanged baffled glances. Better uses? Aside from turning them into nutrient paste and fertilizer, what other use could that stuff possibly have? Nearly all of them were left completely flabbergasted. ... While the merchants from the wasteland scratched their heads, unable to fathom what the esteemed Administrator had planned, an announcement was suddenly posted on the official Wasteland OL website far away in another world. [Wasteland OL Closed Beta Server Version Beta 0.6 Update Announcement!] [Major Updates: 1. Closed beta slots increased from 30,000 to 50,000! 2. Blockade lifted on the Qingquan City Second Ring Road area; a large number of surveyed, unrecovered ruins have been added, with related missions available from the Scientific Expedition. 3. Added the "Alpha Centauri" star system and the Gaia world to the game world! (Note: Although the map is fully completed, the route to access it is still under development. Players may also explore and discover access routes on their own. Stay tuned for more content!) 4. Added the "Fruiting Body Raising" system! 5. Shelter Floor B7 opening soon. 6. Fixed minor bugs. ... ] ["Fruiting Body Raising" System Overview: The downtown broodmother in Qingquan City has been secured by our forces, and all incubation chambers throughout the city are now under our control! However, to Yu's distress, it has never controlled so many fruiting bodies before. Designed specifically for slaughter, these fruiting bodies will exhibit naked hostility toward other organisms like wild beasts if not closely watched. To prevent the waste of resources and to help everyone's beloved Yu, Shelter 404 is now recruiting a batch of volunteers! Requirements: An Intelligence stat of 10 or higher, or an implanted bionic chip that enhances cerebral computing power! Eligible players may submit an application via their VM terminals in-game to undergo "Control-Type" biological prosthetic modification surgery. An approved application constitutes successful enrollment! The shelter will arrange the biological prosthetic implantation surgery for players after they log off. Once the surgery succeeds, players can establish a conscious connection with designated fruiting bodies via the "Control-Type" biological prosthetic, commanding their actions just like operating a drone through neural link equipment. Adoption fees for standard fruiting bodies range from 100 to 10,000 silver coins, with types including gnawers, Crawlers, Butchers, Tyrants, and more. Beyond standard fruiting bodies, players may also prepare their own synthesis materials and pay additional fees to apply for the adoption of more formidable evolved organisms, including "Decayed Knights"! Players can even DIY their own creations based on personal preference, provided the gene bank permits! The shelter system will calculate the total customization fee based on multiple factors such as the evolved organism's functionality, organic matter required for production, and incubation time. Please note: The number of fruiting bodies a player can operate simultaneously depends on their Intelligence stat. Please act within your capabilities based on researcher recommendations. Should a fruiting body lose control, all resulting damage and consequences shall be borne solely by the adopter! ] Less than half a minute after the announcement dropped— The entire forum erupted!